This car, seen destroyed in the Manzanita Fire, is the one that was involved in a solo crash that ignited the blaze, authorities said. The photograph taken Tuesday, June 27, 2017, shows a charred area on the west side of Highway 79.(Photo: Colin Atagi/The Desert Sun)Buy Photo

A wildfire west of the Coachella Valley grew overnight, but so did its containment lines.

As of 6:30 a.m., the Manzanita wildfire charred 6,309 acres near Beaumont, according to Cal Fire. That's up from the 5,800 acres that was reported 12 hours earlier.

Containment increased from 20 percent to 26 percent. Just after 8 a.m., Cal Fire announced an evacuation warning had been lifted.

Weather experts said winds - which typically push flames - were expected to pick up Tuesday afternoon. Sustained winds had potential to reach 15 mph, which would have been more than enough to strengthen the fire.

"Ten miles per hour is a good wind," Cal Fire spokesman Chris Kemp said.

The cause of the blaze was determined to be the result of a traffic collision with fire, according to the Riverside County Fire Department. Two people were taken to area hospitals with unknown injuries.

The crash happened about 3:05 p.m. Monday when an 86-year-old Hemet woman was going south on Highway 79, on a downhill stretch of road. She lost control of her 2001 Lexus RX300 and it went off the road and down an embankment.

Buy Photo

Retardant is seen June 27, 2017, in a scorched area of the Manzanita Fire. The fire burned through thick vegetation south of Beaumont and fire officials say conditions make this fire season one of the worse in recent memory.(Photo: Colin Atagi/The Desert Sun)

The fire barely grew Tuesday morning since there was barely any wind in the area. But winds are expected to pick up and bring gusts peaking at 30 mph later Tuesday.

"The winds (Monday) were weaker than what we expect them to be this afternoon," National Weather Service meteorologist Phil Gonsalves said.

Property on both sides of Highway 79 was burned before flames spread east.

By Tuesday morning, an entire valley in the San Jacinto Wildlife Area was scorched as helicopters dropped water and red retardant on a burning area that was creating smoke and flames in the distance.

Much of the landscape was striped green, black and red.

It was the only visible area still on fire as an aircraft attacked a more-active scene to the east that was blocked by mountains.

Hot spots were scattered across the blackened valley, sending smoke into the air.

Nearby, a Southern California Edison worker inspected utility poles that were damaged by the fire.

Highland Springs Avenue was the main road into the burn area and groups of fire trucks traversed the stretch for much of the day.

By 11 a.m, a group of firefighters had gathered on the northern perimeter off Highland Springs to put out any remaining hot spots.

All was calm outside the fire scene. Since there was no wind pushing smoke, skies were clear and it was less obvious than it was Monday that a fire was burning.

There are about 150 homes and 400 to 450 people in the area that's under an evacuation warning, said Riverside County Sheriff's Department spokesman Mike Vasquez. He said it's a rural area with dirt roads.

"It's a sparsely populated area," he said.

The fire department also issued an evacuation warning for Highland Home Road stretching east to Highway 243, including the communities of Poppet Flats and Silent Valley.

Voluntary evacuation orders were issued for homes along Death Valley Road, Longhorn Road and Shirleon Drive south of Beaumont.

The blaze was reported shortly after 3 p.m. Monday in the area of Route 79 and Dump Road, near the Lamb Canyon landfill, according to the Riverside County Fire Department.

Posted!

A link has been posted to your Facebook feed.

Buy Photo

This car, seen destroyed in the Manzanita Fire, is the one that was involved in a solo crash that ignited the blaze, authorities said. The photograph taken Tuesday, June 27, 2017, shows a charred area on the west side of Highway 79.
Colin Atagi/The Desert Sun